Excuse me while I get this twitching eye to stop....
Got me some new shrimp!
lol... you guys are crazy. Now I remember why I like hanging out with you guys so much!
Ok, bringing up some things that were said I think there are some things to keep in mind with these color variations in the shrimp (this thread has gotten a touch confusing and I am hoping not to confuse future shrimp keepers!). The traditional genetic principal that Jim brought up is actually just one genetic pricipal and the easiest to teach - simple recessive. It's one of many, many different types of genetic interactions, is the easiest to control with selective breeding, but should be kept in mind that it is hardly the only thing going on! With simple recessive breeding it is often the case that the animals are line bred - sibling to sibling - to get the occurance of the variation as high as possible. Inbreeding is the fastest and easiest way to do it but it's not exactly the genetic anomaly itself that makes them weak, but the inbreeding done by those who don't know better or want to make their buck off them. Keeping mixed groups usually means a wider range of genetics which often means hardier animals... but the line bred for more white animals can be just as unhardy as the red guys if outbreeding isn't done enough. Outbreeding takes time and research tho, and means a lot of animals that aren't the super animals you were hoping for (back breeding to wild caughts for example can really take you back a few generations but are so amazingly genetically valuable over the long run it's worth it!). I ran across this a lot in leopard geckos and spent a lot of time outcrossing and back breeding to WCs and wild types with my animals because of these issues (aggressive personalities, weak eggs and offpsring, picky eaters, general reduced hardiness) - but you can still have pretty and healthy if you're willing to do the work! I actually wrote an article about this but took my website down... will have to get to work on that blog and repost it I guess.
If the Bb was an "intermediate coloration" between BB and bb we would have seen a lot more variation in shades by now and they would have been common - not the occassional animal that popped up (which sounds an awful lot like how the reds showed up). It sounds like the reds are a simple recessive and the coffee colored animals are not caused by the breeding of the two together, but rather a different genetic anomaly. Wouldn't be suprised if it's a reduction in the black so the red shows through, but not the complete lack of black on the body like with the reds. Seems like they'd be directly related but they likely aren't. Someone will need to gather up those coffee shrimp and do some breeding tests to see if they are also an easily isolated simple recessive
Seems like not matter what hobby I get into I can come back to all the crazy breeding for coloration stuff I learned with leopard geckos!
Ok, bringing up some things that were said I think there are some things to keep in mind with these color variations in the shrimp (this thread has gotten a touch confusing and I am hoping not to confuse future shrimp keepers!). The traditional genetic principal that Jim brought up is actually just one genetic pricipal and the easiest to teach - simple recessive. It's one of many, many different types of genetic interactions, is the easiest to control with selective breeding, but should be kept in mind that it is hardly the only thing going on! With simple recessive breeding it is often the case that the animals are line bred - sibling to sibling - to get the occurance of the variation as high as possible. Inbreeding is the fastest and easiest way to do it but it's not exactly the genetic anomaly itself that makes them weak, but the inbreeding done by those who don't know better or want to make their buck off them. Keeping mixed groups usually means a wider range of genetics which often means hardier animals... but the line bred for more white animals can be just as unhardy as the red guys if outbreeding isn't done enough. Outbreeding takes time and research tho, and means a lot of animals that aren't the super animals you were hoping for (back breeding to wild caughts for example can really take you back a few generations but are so amazingly genetically valuable over the long run it's worth it!). I ran across this a lot in leopard geckos and spent a lot of time outcrossing and back breeding to WCs and wild types with my animals because of these issues (aggressive personalities, weak eggs and offpsring, picky eaters, general reduced hardiness) - but you can still have pretty and healthy if you're willing to do the work! I actually wrote an article about this but took my website down... will have to get to work on that blog and repost it I guess.
If the Bb was an "intermediate coloration" between BB and bb we would have seen a lot more variation in shades by now and they would have been common - not the occassional animal that popped up (which sounds an awful lot like how the reds showed up). It sounds like the reds are a simple recessive and the coffee colored animals are not caused by the breeding of the two together, but rather a different genetic anomaly. Wouldn't be suprised if it's a reduction in the black so the red shows through, but not the complete lack of black on the body like with the reds. Seems like they'd be directly related but they likely aren't. Someone will need to gather up those coffee shrimp and do some breeding tests to see if they are also an easily isolated simple recessive
Seems like not matter what hobby I get into I can come back to all the crazy breeding for coloration stuff I learned with leopard geckos!
Best, Corey
